Improvement in ruffling attachments for sewing-machines



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Ruining Attachments for Sewing-Machines.

7 N0. 137,003. PatntedMarch18,l873- W, I v

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AM. Pnaru-mwsmrmc ca mx (osaanuss mocsss) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS s. HUNTINGTON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT-IN RUFFLING ATTACH ENTS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 137,003, dated March18, 1873.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS S. HUNTING= TON, of Baltimore, county ofBaltimore, Ma ryland, formerly of the city of Philadelphia, State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in theSewing-Machine Attachment for Fulling, Plaiting, Ruffling, andGathering, for which I made application for United States Letters Patenton or about June 16, 1870.

The following is a specification of my said improvements, the purpose ofwhichis to give to my above-named attachment the capacity of actingautomatically on three (3) strips, pieces, or thicknesses of cloth orother material, in such manner that the middle piece shall be ruffled orgathered while the top and bottom pieces are kept plain and smooth toform a belt, support, or margin for the ruffled or gathered piece, andthe three pieces sewed together all at one operation.

My improvements consist in the employment of a hinged-feeder, h, inplace of the spring-feeder described in my aforesaid application, inconnection with a stationary adjustable guard, ashereinafter described,and

. view of the improved attachment; Fig. 2, a

plan of the feed-barf, hinged-feeder h, and spring k Fig. 3, aperspective view of the upright part a. of plate a and of the guard swhich is attached thereto; Fig. 4, a plan of the guard s and uprightpart a of plate a; Fig. 5, a section of the feed-bar f on the line to wof Fig. 2; Fig. 6, a section of the feed-bar f on the line 3 z of Fig.2.

a is a plate to which the several parts of the device are attached. I)is a jointed lever, one end of which abuts against the adjustable stud cwhich is attached directly to plate a, the other end of lever I) beingin contact with stud d which projects up from feed-bar f, the longer legof which bar slides between the guide 9 and the upright part a of platea, the shorter leg projecting through a slot in the same part of platea, as shown. t is a spring,

one end of which is attached to plate a at j, and the other end to thefeed-bar fat k. m is a bar attached by a hinge or other flexible jointto an upright m. The bar 112- is slotted at n for the passage of thesewing-machine needle. h is the feeder. It is formed of two parts unitedat h Fig. 2, by a hinge to enable it to adjust itself with facility tovariations in the thickness of the goods to be ruffled or gathered. h isa spring bearing on the back of feeder h. Both the feeder h and thespring h are adjustable, being attached to the shorter leg of thefeed-bar j by a screw through slots, as shown. 8, Figs. 1, 3, and 4, isa peculiarly formed plate which I denominate a guard. It is stationary,being rigidly attached to the upright part of plate a, as shown in Fig.3, so as to be adjustable to suit the thickness of the goods to besewed. Its office is to protect the lowermost strip or thickness ofgoods passing through the device against pressure from the feeder h asthe goods to be ruflied or gathered and sewed are advanced by the feedmotion of the sewing-machine. The guard sis forked I or recessed asshown, so that it shall be clear of all connection with or bearing onthe feeddog of the sewing-machine, while at the same time its two prongsshall completely guard the lowermost piece of goods from contact withthe hinged feeder h. 4

In my device, the strip to be ruffled or gathered always passes betweenthe hinged feeder h and the guard s; and in opera-ting the devicewhenthree pieces or thicknesses are intended to be sewed together so thatthere shall be a ruffle attached to a belt, one

strip is caused to pass under the guard s, another between the guard andhinged feeder h, and the third strip-piece or thickness over saidfeeder, all passing at the same time under the presser-foot of thesewing-machine. If the bottom one of the said three pieces is omittedthe middle piece is ruffled or gathered and sewed to the top piece,which remains plain. And if the top one of the three is omitted, leavingthe middle and bottom pieces, the middle piece is ruffled or gatheredand sewed to the bottom piece, which remains plain.

I claim- 1. The guard s in combination with the reciprocetinghingedfeeder h, springh and feedsul stantially as set forth, for the purposebarf, all constructed and arranged on the supspecified.

porting-bed having the vertical guiding-face, THOS. S. HUNTINGTON. inthe manner and for the purpose substantially as set forth. I Witnesses:

2. The hinged bar m, jointed lever 1), ad- R. G. WARE, Jr., justablestop 0, feed-bar f, hinged feeder h, WM. H. BAYZAND.

spring h guard s, and plate a, all constructed

